A plan proposed by Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney last year to limit home building on the county’s peripheries is running into opposition from elected officials in rural areas.

Officials in Elbridge, Van Buren and Camillus have come out in opposition to the plan. County Legislator David Knapp, who represents the mostly rural southeast corner of the county, said officials in LaFayette, Tully and Fabius have told him they don’t like the plan, either.

Elbridge Supervisor Ken Bush Jr. said he’s afraid the plan, if implemented, would kill the ability of his town and other rural areas of the county from expanding their tax bases.

“I fell this will have a horrendously negative impact for the next 10 years or however long they plan to enforce it,” said Bush. “I don’t feel they’ve got much support at all for this plan.”

He said his town’s biggest challenge is not preserving agricultural land. It’s got more than enough of that, he said. Elbridge’s problem is not having enough jobs for its residents, he said.

“There’s nothing in the plan about economic development in the rural areas,” said Bush. “They’re worried about carbon footprints, and they want everyone to commute into Syracuse and work in Clinton Square.”

Van Buren Supervisor Claude Sykes said he sees Mahoney’s plan as a way for the county to take control of development away from local communities.

“It takes away our home rule,” he said. “We live here. We know what we want.”

Mahoney proposed her Sustainable Development Plan last summer. It would limit residential development to areas already served by public infrastructure like sewer and water lines. Suburban towns that sign on to the plan and restrict sprawl would rewarded with grants to offset lost tax revenues. Developers would be given tax credits to build in urban center rather than paving over farmland.

But the county Legislature has not voted on the plan and has no plans to do so because of the opposition that has sprung up.

Legislature Chairman Ryan McMahon, R-Syracuse, said a few towns are open to discussing the plan, but none have endorsed it.

“We understand this is an important issue to the county executive,” he said. “We’re looking at it. We’re getting feedback from our towns and villages. But at the same time, we’re in no rush. The education process needs to continue.”

Mahoney said her plan would not block business or industrial development in rural areas, though it would encourage businesses to locate where sewer and other municipal services already exist. She said the plan’s focus is preventing residential sprawl that does not generate the tax revenues needed to pay for the increased costs they create for schools and other municipal services.

Mahoney said the county cannot afford to continue extending roads, sewers, water lines and other services to support new subdivisions without a corresponding increase in population to pay for those services.

“We are among the worst in the country for sprawl,” she said.

She said she is not calling for a vote in the Legislature at this time. However, she said she would like the Legislature to hold a public hearing.

She said the Legislature’s lack of action, so far, has had no practical impact on her efforts to limit sprawl. As county executive, she will simply not seek funding from the Legislature to extend sewer lines for new residential housing, she said. That won’t stop towns from approving subdivisions that use on-site septic systems, but it will help to limit new home building, she said.